If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ. You may have to register or login using the form below before you can post. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit. Once registered you can subscribe to have new posts emailed directly to you.

Cruisin Weekend

Well, I must be getting old. We've been going to Cruisin weekend almost from the first year (it's been going on for 25 years now) and we've always enjoyed it. We skipped a few years when the pickups got out of hand and the kids were riding in the back, throwing water on people, and just being a general PITA. Thankfully, they aren't allowed to do that anymore, but this year it didn't stop the diesel pickups from showing up in force, along with teens and ricer cars with their bumble bee exhausts.
We got there Thursday and first checked out the Convention Center goings on. The lot was packed, not nearly as many vendors as in the past outside. Then we headed inside and were disappointed with the number and type of vendors inside as well. Not too many.
Checked into the Comfort Inn Boardwalk on 5th. This was our second time staying there and the hotel is nicer than most people would think. Clean for sure. Spacious rooms, nice size bathroom, but little counter space. We were oceanfront............and that was a mistake when it came to sleeping. Located next to Hooters! Our room's air conditioner was VERY noisy so we cooled the room down and turned it off to sleep, but we had to turn it back on to drown out the noise from outside. Hooters was rockin and rollin fairly late, and there were so many skateboarders roaring up and down till nearly 3 am every night. Horrible.

The cars were amazing as always, people were gracious when you asked about their rides, and the staff at both sites were polite and efficient. BUT the number of teens was overwhelming. Rude, pushy, riding those skateboards day and night, and they sure didn't care if you were in their road. And they were on bicycles too racing around the boardwalk, riding as fast as they could right up to people who were walking and then veering at the last second scaring people. Two kids had a surrey at the inlet on the boards in front of the Life Saving Station Museum and were pedaling it up the ramp, around the shark, then racing it down the ramp full speed making people scramble to get out of the way. I saw one police officer walking in that direction, but she was on her cell and not really paying attention. And the DOGS!!! OMG! For a place that doesn't allow dogs on the beach and boardwalk past the 1st of May, nobody got the memo! One of the cruisers had 3 golden retrievers in his car for the boardwalk parade, then had the dogs all with him at the inlet and walked them up and down the boardwalk. So many!!
Smoking ban? Uh..................okay.

There were TONS of burnouts on every corner and cops were doing as much as they could and doing it well, but couldn't be everywhere at the same time. But they were trying. I will say this............ it wasn't the cruisers that were doing the burn outs and raising hell. It was the kids in the diesel trucks and ricer type cars that were being egged on by teens throwing buckets of water onto the streets at stop lights and yelling at them to do it. The cops had a system in front of our hotel that was working very well with two cops on quads hiding around the corner, and when someone did a burn out, they nailed him. The cops were laughing and someone asked one cop if he was having fun and he said "heck yeah!" lol. They did an excellent job. I don't know if they were ticketing or just giving warnings. I did see one guy in a white Cadillac try and do a burnout and ran right into the back end of the pick up in front of him.

What else..............oh, someone put soap into the fountain at the Wine Rack around 50th St. That was pretty funny.
We parked the car on Thursday at the hotel, and didn't even try to move it till Sunday morning. So Thursday we had pizza at Three Brother's for lunch and then went to Ember's for their $17.99 senior citizen buffet. I only eat the crab legs, and if I had to pay more than that I wouldn't even bother. But for that price it was worth it.
Friday we spent at the inlet, then went to the Frog Bar for their great burgers and beer. Packed and a little wait, but the food was just as good as always. Friday night we went to Shenanigans for dinner. I had the crab dip which comes with a small loaf of crusty bread, and hubby had a steak which he said was lousy. He's had steak there before and enjoyed it, but not that night. We shared a half lb. of steamed shrimp, and to be honest, their steamed shrimp is about as good as you'll find anywhere. Really good.
Saturday's lunch was cheese pizza from Tony's for me, and an Italian Hoagie for the hubby which he said was very good. The little waitress said she "hates making those" for some reason, but was glad to hear that it was good. And we had our usual Fisher's caramel corn and some Dolle's Taffy. For dinner, we walked up to 13th St. to Adolfo's. We were the only two in there for most of the meal before another couple ventured in. Hubby and I both ordered spaghetti and meatballs and it came with a nice salad of mixed greens and veggies and a very good house dressing with crumbled cheese, and a large basket of white bread with a great crust. The spaghetti sauce was good, not overly spicy, pasta was cooked perfectly, and the meatballs (you get 2) were each the size of softballs and very tasty.
So while we didn't get to Joe's Shrimp Boat or BJ's like we planned, we were satisfied. Although, I won't be eating anything Italian for a while. lol

All in all, it was a pleasant time, but I think our time in OC is coming to an end. The kids, the noise, the kids, the rudeness, the dirty boardwalk (it was FILTHY!) the JUNK in the shops, and all of the buskers, all of it has a feeling of "been there, done that, over it" now. It might be time to find a quieter beach for us. We'll have to wait and see.

Great review of the weekend!! I hope they get things cleaned up by airshow weekend.... There is the OC car and truck show that same weekend and it usually attracts some animals, but I hope not as bad as it was in 2013. Some big hip hop star jumping around on stage at the convention center. That brought in all the should be in the junkyard, 1987 three tone buicks with 5000 dollar spinner rims from Baltimore and DC. Those type of animals that just hang out in the street because they are too broke to stay in a hotel or motel, sleeping in their cars, tossing bottles in the street, openly smoking pot, and lewdness. It was crazy. I sure hope this year is sort of quiet.

Good review

Glad you had a good time (except for the kids and noise part)

I have to agree about the boardwalk. I don't think they enforce the dogs, bikes and skateboard rules enough. We were down last weekend, (before Cruising weekend) and noticed a large amount of dog walkers and skate boarders that nearly ran us over several times. I'm guessing this weekend will be no different.

Let me be completely honest about the teenagers in question: they are almost all the children of the cruisers themselves. And those trucks 'accompany' the cruisers, whether it was actually towing a trailer/car down or not is hard to tell. We see this every single year. Make what you will out of that.

As far as the rules on the boardwalk go, jeez that sounds like a fair amount of... well whining!! There are rules and regulations sure, but this is America! This place was founded on breaking the rules. It was a rough winter here, locals have been getting itchy, and its the time of the year where the town simply embraces everyone. We don't start hating tourists until the minivans crawl down Coastal come August, or the significantly more annoying car and bike weekends in October. So tough it up, relax a bit, and go with the flow. That's what OC is all about anyways.

I was happily cruising around on my bike for the past few weeks on the boardwalk, enjoying the dogs and other cyclists that I met along the way. So did most other people I saw.

On a side note concerning cops: they leave academy this week. They will be out in full force THIS weekend. They weren't last weekend.

Oh dear. Junior, I guarantee you that the diesel trucks were NOT all with the cruisers. They were driven by late teen/early 20's guys who were whooping it up, hanging out the windows, and many still had kids piled in the beds ($250 fine this year).As for breaking the rules, it's that attitude that is turning this country into such a mess. Rules are not there to be broken. They're there for the betterment of everyone. Skateboards and bikes ARE allowed on the boardwalk until Memorial Day weekend so no real rules broken there. It's how the kids were behaving with them. I saw a very pregnant lady nearly get run over by the two kids who were in the surrey. If her husband hadn't pulled her away at the last second it could have turned out badly for all involved. It was like some sort of gang initiation to see how fast you could go and get right up on someone walking then veer away at the last second. They scared MANY people old and young. And I understand how people wouldn't know that their dogs weren't supposed to be there because Ocean City had NO signs that I could find on the boardwalk that stated they weren't allowed after May 1. But if you're going somewhere to visit and you want to bring your furry friend, you really should be responsible enough to find out what the city's rules are about bringing them along and RESPECT the town's rules.
I love Crusin OC and all the cars and the car people. What I don't like is having to watch where I'm stepping every step of the way , having black soot blown over me and my vehicle by the trucks, or having to dodge these youngsters in their "bumble bees" who can't keep their cars going straight doing a burnout and nearly coming over the curbs. The whole attitude in OC has changed into an "anything goes" attitude instead of family friendly. It sure isn't what it was 20+ years ago when we first started coming.

Thanks for the write up. I hear what you're saying but you could have easily been talking about 20-30 years ago. OC events haven't changed. Our perception has. I don't let this stuff bother me because I was one of the problems 30 years ago. I assure you it was like this 20 years ago. Your last paragraph in your orignal post sums things up.

Yeah, Terp, I think you're right. It probably was the same way 30 years ago and I was younger then and had more tolerance for such stuff. But I also know kids had more respect then too. These kids didn't care. They were all about causing grief to people who there to enjoy the boardwalk. But like I said.........been there, done that, over it.

Unfortunately, you've highlighted some things that has bothered me about OC for a while now. In all honesty, I've been going to OC all my life, and I've really seen the rude factor increase in the last ten years. My friends and I went to Senior Week in 1998, and we minded out Ps & Qs because neither one of us wanted to get in trouble and have the police call home to our mothers. That's one thing lacking with the youth of today - fear.

I have a feeling that the smoking ban is going to take awhile to really take effect in OC.

Kds, I hunted and hunted for "no smoking" signs and I couldn't find one. I did find the "no profanity" signs easily but that's because I was actually looking for signs. And there was 1 police officer at Somerset Plaza who I overheard explaining the new rule to someone who stopped and asked. The orange barrels are in place out in the sand on the beach, but let's be real...........if you're walking on the boardwalk and want to smoke, you're not going to walk 15' or more in the sand to get to the bins and they're only every 2 or 3 blocks. I wouldn't want to get sand in my shoes or sandals just to have a smoke. I walked through plenty of smoke believe me.

OC is good at passing all kinds of regulations, but very lax in enforcing them.

I was there for an event and had to be on the boardwalk. In the future, IF I return, I will stay midtown or north and avoid the boards just for my own peace of mind.

I hate to say this.....because you really shouldn't have to.....but stay away from the boardwalk. I have a place in midtown and I can't tell you the last time I was on the boardwalk during the season or even close to the season. I do walk it occasionally in the off off season. I am down all year and I barely notice senior weeks, Springfest, Sunfest, etc. I am not a hermit either. I enjoy OC to the fullest. Always outside enjoying the beach, water, restaurants and bars. Car show weeks and bike week I notice because they are up and down the highway but to me it keeps the place alive in the shoulder seasons!!

My kids are grown and I will soon have grandkids but even then I probably will avoid the boardwalk. And it isn't just the teenagers that cause all the problems. I will have to say that it HAS gotten worse in the past 30 years in my opinion. People in general, just don't seem to give a rat's @$$ about their fellow man anymore. The language and the disrespect IS worse and seems to be continuing that trend......but that is not unique to OC.